The Initiation of Australian Botany: Selections from Bank’s Florilegium

The Florilegium is a record of plants collected by Joseph Banks and his team on Captain James Cook’s first voyage around the world. In an extraordinary effort over 700 copperplates were eventually produced for printing upon arrival back in England. Although intended as a contribution to science, the Florilegium was never published in Banks’ lifetime, and remarkably, it took until the 1980s when the engravings were printed for the first time in colour. A selection of these will be on display.